Life Goes On

Already the news here is that the US federal government is not doing enough to aid earthquake damage. Most of the major damage is on the "Big Island", (Hawaii) but with elections loomimg this November, politicians are trying to leverage any situation available. Total damage reported thus far to public property is around $74 million. When you consider a similar 6.7 scale earthquake in 1993 in California caused $25 billion, it is comparitively small. Frankly, I am surprised we didn't have more damage to our building here, based on the "shake" I experienced in our 5th floor room. Engineers will probably come in to inspect the building, but there appears very little damage to my eyes.

I purchased tickets today to go "parasailing" this weekend. This is something I have wanted to do for years, but it took another of the volunteers to say "lets do it"! More surprising is that Marlene is also going. Will report more after the experience.

I was also able to get discounted airline tickets to go to Honolulu our last weekend here. The attraction there is an NCAA (college) football game. It will involve staying overnight since games don't start until 6:00pm (because of the heat), so we will be able to do some sightseeing as well. We were there in 1971, but I imagine there has been some changes in 35 years.

The attached pictures are two of Marlene's never ending attempt to photograph the perfect sunset.